"Police in Elizabeth, New Jersey are investigating footage that has surfaced online of an officer hitting a woman in the face during an altercation outside a nightclub. Authorities told WNBC-TV on Wednesday that the unidentified officer seen in the video, which was posted on YouTube on March 3, is still on active duty while they look into the incident outside a local nightclub." Continue reading →
"Former Denver Police officer Hector Paez has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexual assault and kidnapping, the Denver District Attorney's Office announced Friday. Paez, now 33, was in uniform May 16, 2010, when he came in contact with the victim, a 36-year-old woman, and ran a background check on her, finding an outstanding arrest warrant out of Jefferson County. Paez then took the woman to an isolated area and coerced her into 'performing a sexual act to avoid being taken to jail,' the DA's office said when charges were filed." Continue reading →
"A former sheriff is due in court Monday for a pre-trial hearing. Former Carter County Sheriff Tommy Adams is charged with two felonies of distribution of a controlled substance, for methamphetamine and cocaine. He's also charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Adams pleaded guilty in April 2012 to federal charges for stealing firearms that had been seized as evidence, then selling some of them. Adams' former deputy, former Carter County Deputy Steffanie Kearbey, pleaded guilty to the same federal charges." Continue reading →
"A Texas police officer who fired 41 shots at a chase suspect in August has been fired. Michael Allen, 25, was shot and killed after a high-speed chase that began in Garland and ended in Mesquite, Texas. Allen was wanted on suspicion of eluding police in Sasche a few days earlier. Garland police spokesman Officer Joe Harn said Tuter violated the department's general order of use of force and its pursuit protocol. The department at first said that Tuter opened fire in fear of his life, but dashboard camera video raised concerns after it showed that Tuter had rammed Allen's truck and fired 41 shots after he cornered Allen. Tuter reloaded twice, police said." Continue reading →
"A Washington state bill, S.B. 5618, that would allow police officers, or 'school resource officers,' to search students without probable cause or parental consent, passed the State Senate Monday, 30-19. The legislation would allow police to search a student's person, locker and possessions if they are believed to be violating the law or any school rule. Currently under Washington state law, if a school employee has a reasonable suspicion to search a student, they have the right, but a police officer serving as a school resource officer cannot search a student without probable cause." Continue reading →
"Today the UK Telegraph is reporting that the United States has facilitated the shipment of some 3,000 tons of weapons left over from the Balkan wars of the 1990s to Syria via Croatia. This radical escalation on the part of the US and UK is in clear violation of the European arms embargo of Syria and similar US administration pledges. And where are these weapons ending up? The US is facilitating the transfer of sophisticated weapons to terrorists who utilize al-Qaeda in Iraq style techniques such as planting roadside bombs. Here are Syria's jihadist fighters showing off their latest gifts courtesy of the United States." Continue reading →
"With the surprise appearance in a New York courtroom of Osama bin Laden’s son in law on Friday, the US justice system’s handling of terrorism cases itself went back on trial. Until now, alleged Al-Qaeda figures have been more likely to be blown apart by a missile from a US drone or to disappear into the netherworld of secret CIA or secretive military prisons, before resurfacing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But on this occasion, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, accused of conspiring to kill US nationals, was arraigned in a wood-paneled Manhattan federal courtroom, accompanied by three lawyers and witnessed by the media." Continue reading →
"Imagine Ma Barker's gang or a gang of John Dillingers who unilaterally declare 'war' against the U.S. Would the U.S. in turn declare war against them? Metaphorically it might, in order to show a steely determination to capture and stop them. But does their declaration by itself entitle the U.S. to kill them without an attempt to capture them and place them on trial? Certainly not. Lynching is summary execution. No government can be trusted with the power of summarily killing someone, even if that person has 'declared war' on that government. Such a power is too easy to extend and expand and inflict upon the innocent." Continue reading →
"A number of countries are aggressively trying to control the Internet, a top US diplomat cautioned Thursday, insisting Washington would give no ground when it comes to curbing freedoms on the Web. The fact that many countries appeared to be investing heavily, 'billions and billions of dollars', in next generation surveillance technologies was an indication of their intentions to clamp down on Internet freedoms, Ross warned. The clamp-down was coming amid a clear shift of power all over the world from governments and other state hierarchies towards citizens and networks of citizens, he said." Continue reading →
"A Saudi court on Saturday dissolved a human rights group and handed down heavy jail terms to two of its members. He also upheld a six-year prison term for one the group’s members, Abdullah al-Hamed, by a court of first instance, while also handing him a new five-year sentence and an 11-year travel ban to come into force when he leaves jail. Another rights activist with the ACPRA, Mohammed Gahtani, was jailed for 10 years and banned from travelling for 10 years. The defendants were convicted of violating a law on cybercriminality by using Twitter to denounce various aspects of political and social life in the ultra-conservative kingdom." Continue reading →